Thursday, June 13, 2013

New bed bug publication

If you've ever performed a bed bug control job you know it's not something you get exactly right the first time. Bed bug control requires knowledge of the pest, knowledge of the technologies available to control the pest, experience looking for the pest, and lots of muscle memory.

The new bed bug publication from Texas
A&M AgriLife Extension packs lot of tips
and information into 7 pages. Download it
free online.

If you've paid your dues, learned the routine, and think you've gotten pretty good at bed bugs, don't you wish prospective clients would recognize that? Well now there's a new publication that might help. How to Select a Bed Bug Provider (ENTO-033) is the latest entomology fact sheet from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.

By leading the reader through the different treatment approaches, and suggesting how to interview a prospective pest control company, this publication is designed to match bed bug sufferers to the best PMP. Sections include:

What to look for in a pest control company

Approaches to bed bug control

Preparation

Warranties and follow-up

Cost

Bagging tips

Special considerations for apartment managers

In addition, we've included an interview card to help the user objectively compare you to other bidders. Criteria include experience, technician training and support, preparation requirements, good communication, monitoring, professionalism, warranty and follow-up.

If you're really good at bed bug control, chances are that this guide will prospective customers see that. Maybe it should have a place among your sales material for future bed bug jobs.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I would certainly like to learn how to obtain a copy of your publication on how to choose a bed bug pest control company. One of your links didn't work, but using the other I was able to discover it is available at the TX A&M Agrilife bookstore. However, I couldn't figure out how to order it, since the price is listed as $0.00. I would have supposed there would be a way to download it for free, but failed to find any way to do this.

Sorry about any difficulties accessing this fact sheet. The link should be working now, but the system (as of Oct, 2013) is still a little tricky to navigate. When you get to the page, click the "Add to Cart" link. When a popup window appears, click "Check out". On the next page, make sure quantity is 1 and click the button under New Customers that says "Proceed to Checkout". Simply fill out the required fields for billing and shipping information (don't worry, this publication is free and you will not be added to any mailing lists). Once you've registered with the site, you can simply choose your previously entered information in these two fields. Scroll down to the bottom and click "Place Order". The site will mail you the publication, but at this point you will see on the next screen a link option to immediately download the publication. If you do this you will get an immediate download to view AND you will get the pub as an attachment to an email within a few minutes. If you don't click it, you will still get the email with the publication. Complicated, I know.

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About Me

I have served as entomology specialist for Texas AgriLife Extension since 1989. I get to work with, and for, a bunch of great people including pest management professionals, school facilities managers, extension volunteers, researchers and other extension professionals. My areas of specialty center on research on insects affecting man including spiders, scorpions, fire ants, termites and others. My program also focuses on training school maintenance professionals in principles of integrated pest management (IPM). Our goal is to make schools healthier, cleaner places to study and live.